Reconstruction in Georgia

1. Reconstruction in Georgia Mr. Coggins Cornell Notes

2. farms were in ruins homes, railways, bridges,roads were destroyed or in need of repair not enough food banks were closed – Confederate money was worthless the state owed $20,000,000 in war debt 25,000 Georgians had died of wounds or disease – many more were crippled and could not work What were conditions in GA like after the Civil War? Reconstruction in GA

3. Problems of freedmen (former slaves): homeless hungry uneducated free for the 1st time no property or goods Many former slaves feared re-enslavement Most whites had difficulty treating freedmen as free persons What problems did former slaves face after the war? The Freedmen

4. The Freedmen’s Bureau • What was the role of the Freedmen’s Bureau? • Started as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands by U.S. government in 1865 • Its job was to help freed slaves and poor whites with basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter • The purpose shifted to education • Set up 4,000 primary schools • Started industrial schools for jobs training • Started teacher-training schools • Missionaries started schools like Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Clark College

5. Reconstruction Plan • Analyze Lincoln’s plans for Reconstruction • Lincoln wanted to rebuild and return the south to the Union as soon as possible • “Reconstruction” would have two parts: • Southerners would be pardoned after taking an oath of allegiance; • When 10% of voters had taken the oath, the state could rejoin the Union and form a state government. • Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865 during a play at Ford’s Theater by actor John Wilkes Booth. • Vice President Andrew Johnson took over as President.

6. Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction • Lincoln’s plan to reconstruct the south was challenged. Some northerners called “Radical Republicans” thought the south should be more severely punished. • The Radical Republicans wanted to make sure the freedmen retained their new rights. • Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured and imprisoned.

7. Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan • How did Johnson’s plans differ? • In addition to Lincoln’s requirements, President Johnson added a few more. Southern states had to: • approve (ratify) the 13th Amendment (outlawing slavery); • nullify their ordinances of secession; • promise not to repay money borrowed during the war.

8. Congressional Reconstruction • What did Congress want to happen instead? • Congress was angry about Georgia’s Black Codes, so it passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This law gave: • citizenship to all freedmen; • the federal government power to intervene any time civil rights were taken from freedmen. • The 14th Amendment was passed granting citizenship to freedmen and required “equal protection under the law.”

9. Congressional Reconstruction • Congress required southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment. • Georgia and most of the other southern states refused. • Congress abolished these states’ governments and put them under military rule. • Georgia was ruled by General John Pope. • Pope was required to register all male voters – black and white. These voters would elect new representatives to form a new state government.

10. Constitutional Convention of 1867 • What did GA have to do to satisfy Congress? • Delegates were carpetbaggers (northerners who had moved south), scalawags (southerners who sided with the Republicans), and blacks. • Accomplishments of the Convention: • A new constitution ensuring civil rights for all citizens; • Free public education for all children; • Women were allowed to control their own property. • Georgia had satisfied Congress, so General Pope and his troops left the state.

11. African Americans in Politics • Blacks in Reconstruction Politics • The election of 1867 was the first time African Americans had voted. • Several African Americans were elected to Georgia’s General Assembly. • Rev. Henry McNeal Turner was one of the first black men elected in Georgia. • The African Americans elected to the General Assembly were expelled in 1868. • It was argued by whites that civil rights laws gave blacks the right to vote but not to be elected.

12. Ku Klux Klan • What is the KKK? • Secret organization – originally started as a social club for men returning from the war. • Members hid behind robes and masks. • The group terrorized blacks to keep them from voting. • As a result, Congress passed “The Georgia Act” and sent troops back to Georgia. • The act required Georgia to pass the 15th Amendment giving all males the right to vote.

13. Tenant Farming and Sharecropping

14. The End of Reconstruction • How was GA readmitted to the Union? • The African Americans who had been expelled from the General Assembly in 1868 were readmitted by the Georgia Supreme Court in 1870. • The Assembly approved the 14th and 15th Amendments. • Georgia was readmitted to the Union, again, ending Reconstruction.